Congregation emerges from rift over its welcome to gays

Thursday

Nov 29, 2012 at 6:00 AMNov 29, 2012 at 5:03 PM

By Bronislaus B. Kush TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

It's unusual for an institution or an organization to formally recognize a 122nd anniversary, but members of Lake View Congregational Church felt it was important to celebrate another year of worshipping together as a community.

A slight twist or turn in events during the past 12 months could very well have spelled the end of the white clapboard house of worship on Coburn Avenue.

So, on Nov. 11, the small congregation came together for a special worship service and luncheon, in large part because they still had the ability to do so.

“We were very thankful that we successfully got through 2011, and we expressed gratitude that 2012 would be much better,” said Stacey Lundy-Teixeira, a 56 year-old Webster woman, who is a member.

Like other tiny churches, Lake View Congregational — an affiliate of the United Church of Christ — faced a bleak future as members of its aging congregation began passing away and its endowment and other financial resources began drying up.

Adding to the strain, the question of whether to fully embrace gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered people in all aspects of spiritual life created a deep schism within the once close-knit congregation.

Half of the church's 70 members left after the membership voted in 2010 to become an “open and affirming congregation.”

“Things weren't looking good,” said Robert Ochoa, a lay minister who is now serving as the church's pastor. “For a time, we were in survival mode, but we all pulled together and decided to move forward. I'm not sure what's in store for us, but the future is looking brighter.”

Members contributed more money to keep the church afloat and an outreach campaign was launched to attract more congregants.

Today, the church's financial picture has improved and its sliding membership has stabilized.

About 40 people — a portion of them gays and lesbians — now call Lake View their spiritual home.

“You feel loved here,” said Ms. Lundy-Teixeira, a Boston native, who is gay. “There are churches who say they welcome you, but you don't really feel comfortable once you're inside the building. There's a big difference between being tolerated and being welcomed. At Lake View, you are appreciated for who you are, because the members believe that all are made in God's image.”

Ms. Lundy-Teixeira and her 41-year-old partner, Janet, joined the church in April after searching about the Internet for a place to worship.

On Aug. 18, the couple married at the church.

It was the first same-sex marriage ceremony at Lake View.

The entire membership was welcomed to the service and a good number took advantage of the invitation.

“It was really beautiful,” Ms. Lundy-Teixeira said. “The members even decorated the church for us.”

Lake View was one of five missionary churches that were spun off locally in the late 19th century by the Worcester Area Mission Society to serve immigrants.

Upon its founding until the 1970s, the church on Coburn Avenue drew folks of Scandinavian and north European ancestry.

Since its establishment in 1890, the congregation has fought for various social justice issues and it has been a vibrant advocate of ecumenism.

On the parish's 75th anniversary, members were reminded by the Rev. Dr. Albert J. Penner, the president of the Massachusetts Congregational Conference, that they should be “participants” and not “observers.”

At that celebratory gathering, there was a consensus that Lake View should serve as a “community church.”

However, decades later, the fight over inclusion was very bitter. Parishioners believe the debate was divisive because many of the older members had conservative views on social issues such as same-sex marriage.

“There was great resistance,” said Mr. Ochoa. “There were people who didn't even want to take part in the dialogue.”

In 2005, the UCC's General Synod, the denomination's rule-making body, overwhelmingly endorsed same-sex marriages, but the vote was not binding and individual parishes were given the choice of whether to ordain gay unions.

The issue generated an exodus of churches from the UCC and rifts at many of the congregations that chose to allow homosexual weddings.

“Certain people at the church claimed that we welcomed all, but they were unwilling to put out the public flag showing that that was the case,” said 82-year-old Holden resident Eunice Kronk, who noted that she became a member of Lake View at 6 weeks old. “In this day and age, it was important for us to come out of the box and publicly say that we supported gay individuals.”

Following the vote, Lake View's congregation was able to pull itself together, and much credit is given to Mr. Ochoa, an openly gay Latino.

Mr. Ochoa grew up in East Los Angeles and studied for the ministry with the Metropolitan Community Church.

The MCC, which was founded in the 1960s in California, provides special outreach to the gay community.

After awhile, Mr. Ochoa decided to put off becoming a cleric — dabbling in politics and other career interests instead.

He later joined the Presbyterian church and was elected an elder in his parish.

Mr. Ochoa developed a relationship with a man and moved to Worcester, his partner's hometown, in 1996.

The couple broke up about a year ago.

Mr. Ochoa was a member of Hadwen Park Congregational Church, a gay-friendly parish, when he was invited to guest preach at Lake View in February 2010, just prior to the congregation's fateful vote.

Lake View could no longer afford a full-time minister and later asked Mr. Ochoa, a housing counselor, to stay on in a part-time capacity.

That year, the church, which had about a dozen members attending its Sunday services, had only $32 in its bank account.

The unpaid fuel bill alone was $4,000.

“Everything just turned around,” Mr. Ochoa said. “We banded together and decided to act like a true church.”

He said the church has no mortgage and it now has a balanced checkbook.

Ms. Lundy-Teixeira, who was previously married to a straight man and who had served as a lay minister at an MCC church in San Antonio, Tex., said Lake View still faces challenges.

Among them is attracting younger members.

Ms. Lundy-Teixeira, who grew up in a Pentecostal church but did not go to Sunday worship regularly because her single mother worked weekends, said she is beginning to see progress in that direction, noting that people in their 20s and 30s are showing up at services.

“This church has been around for a long time, but we're pretty much acting like a start-up,” said Ms. Lundy-Teixeira, who is a hymn leader at Lake View. “We have a plan in hand and people who are passionate. But realistically, like a lot of other things, a church has to operate like a business and we have to make sure we have a way to keep the lights on.”